Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a condition causing persistent fatigue that lasts for at least six months (or longer) and isn't due to another medical condition (e.g., hypothyroidism). It was once thought to affect only highly educated young adults who are "high achievers" or career-oriented professionals. It is now known that CFS affects people of all ages and from all walks of life.

CFS is about two to four times more common in women than in men. It is associated with extreme and prolonged fatigue that isn't relieved by rest. People with CFS experience persistent tiredness so severe that it prevents them from working, exercising, and enjoying life. CFS is a poorly understood condition and there is no clear consensus about its diagnosis and treatment.

Environmental factors such as EMFs can actually be the precipitating cause creating hormone disruption and biological changes at a cellular level which in turn affects the immune system.

Below are excerpts from the Guideline of the Austrian Medical Association for the diagnosis and treatment of EMF-related health problems and illnesses (EMF syndrome)

There has been a sharp rise in unspecific, often stress-associated health problems that increasingly present physicians with the challenge of complex differential diagnosis. A cause that has been accorded little attention so far is increasing electrosmog exposure at home, at work and during leisure activities, occurring in addition to chronic stress in personal and working life. It correlates with an overall situation of chronic stress that can lead to burnout�

It the study on to say: "Physicians are often confronted with unspecific complaints without clearly identifiable causes (Huss and Roosli 2006). It has been suspected that environmental conditions such as increasing exposure of the population to radio waves, emanating e.g. from cordless phones, mobile phone base stations, cell phones, GPRS, UMTS, data cards for laptop and notebook computers and wireless LAN (WLAN), but also exposure to electric and magnetic fields emanating from power lines, devices and equipment, may play a causal role (Blake Levitt and Lai 2010). For the medical profession, this raises new challenges in diagnosis and treatment. A central issue for the causal attribution of symptoms is the assessment of variation in health problems depending on time and location, which is particularly relevant for environmental causes such as EMF exposure."

According to a study by Ryoichi Ogawa, a physician in Kobe, Chronic fatigue syndrome may be caused by electromagnetic waves whose view that is that educed cerebral blood flow may possibly result from the influence of electromagnetic waves from IT equipment. Dr. Ogawa noted that about 80% of his CFS patients were frequent users on a daily basis of cellular phones, personal computers, TV games and other IT devices, and decided to conduct a clinical investigation into a possible cause-effect relationship of cellular phones and desktop-style personal computers to CFS, a "poorly understood condition" in which general clinical tests show no abnormalities.

Those who have taken steps to reduce exposure to EMFs in their homes and workplaces have reported marked improvements in their symptoms and overall health.